Monthly Archives: April 2017

Would you believe me if I told you that I didn’t start actually loving unicorns on my own? In middle school I was known for being obsessed with flamingos, which I still am. But I had never really been HUGE into unicorns until recently.

It wasn’t until I started being brave and dying my hair different colors. It slowly started off with a few people tagging me in hair posts with different colors saying, “You should try this out! This is so you.” From the colorful hair posts, it evolved into rainbow food and drinks and then UNICORNS. I always appreciated them, but it was all of this push from everyone around me that made me embrace them as my spirit animal. Now I’m obsessed; I can’t go backward from here, only forward.

I own a unicorn mask that is mandatory for wedding receptions and photo shoots.

I have a Unicorn head above my bed that helps me think happy thoughts while I dream.

I’ve overheard people in the grocery store say I have unicorn hair.

I can’t get away from this, and I’m totally ok with that. Unicorns are part of me now, so much so that I will fight someone who has anything bad to say about them (I’m speaking directly to you, Zack).

The Starbucks Drink.

2-3 weeks ago I started getting tagged in posts about a Starbucks Unicorn Frappucino. Naturally, I was very excited and began counting down the days for this magical drink to appear in my hands. The time came to try it, and what did I experience? Cotton Candy Rainbows? Rainbow-sprinkled birthday cake?

Nothing like that at all! Major let down. Yes, consuming anything unicorn related will most likely have an exceptionally high sugar content so I knew what would be to come. BUT SOUR? I don’t know who had the crazy idea to put sour syrup and sprinkles in this drink, but it killed it for me. I was still able to drink it, but to all my fellow unicorn lovers, beware.

Enough about the drink. My love and obsession of unicorns have given me a creative outlet to express my inner being. I’m naturally a pretty happy and joyful person! If I could live on a rainbow and eat berries all day I totally would, but I would want you all to come with me. Can’t have a party by yourself!

This is my challenge for you. Open up your heart and let a little sparkle in. It only takes a little bit of glitter to shine. All you have to do is believe!

I may be late to the game, but wearing vintage dresses is my new thing. For some reason in the past I assumed that if one was to wear vintage anything, one would have to match everything else to the vintage piece. Oh, you found a fifties housewife dress and you want to wear it? You have to wear your hair in a 50s style too, dumb dumb. And don’t even think about stepping out in anything other than shoes of the era. You may end up leaving the house looking exactly like June Cleaver.

Not that all of that is necessarily a bad thing. We’ve all seen 1940s pin-up styled gals on the more hipster side of town or in tattoo shops and they are pulling off the look, complete with victory rolls, effortlessly. God knows that people keep trying to bring back 90s fashion, so there’s that too. But something about wearing a head to toe look from a different time feels a little too costumey.

I had what I refer to as a “dumb blonde epiphany” a few months back when shopping at a local vintage fair: What if I bought this 1960s maxi dress and wore it just how I wear everything else? Then, when people inevitably ask where I got such a lovely garment, I can answer elusively with my nose up in the air: “oh, it’s vintage“. Sounds like an all around win to me.

I don’t have the contact info of the vendor who sold me this blue maxi, but I did get three colorful, loud dresses from this shop that I looooove. This weekend a giant vintage event will take place here in Pittsburgh, and I can’t wait to see what I can score.

In case you haven’t noticed the big change I made to my blog recently, I now have a co-author, my vivacious and bubbly cousin, Christina. It is now our blog. I will continue to write essays about whatever pointless/silly things I happen to be thinking about and regularly post about what I’m wearing and why, while Christina might actually teach you something (she’s a total natural at writing DIY posts).

When I read blogs, I tend to favor posts that help me get to know the person I’m reading about. I always crack up when I get to read posts with random facts about people (like this one that my friends wrote), so without further adieu, here are 20 random ass things about us that you didn’t even realize you need to know.

SARAH-

I like how skunks smell.

If I could trade places with any fictional character, it’d be Rip Van Winkle because I love sleeping so much.

I may act like a literary snob, but most of the things I know about literature were learned from the 90’s PBS show, Wishbone.

I didn’t have cable TV or at-home Internet access growing up, which explains why I watched so much PBS and had to go to the library to keep up with my Myspace correspondents.

I think that Samson from the Old Testament (you know, of Samson and Delilah) might be my spirit animal because I too feel powerless without my hair extensions.

I wish I could carry a tune, but am frequently asked to stop every time I begin to sing.

My husband and I have been together for 6 years, and we’ve still never openly farted in front of each other.

Eight is my lucky number. No it’s not, I don’t have a lucky number I just couldn’t think of anything to write.

If I could only listen to 5 bands for the rest of my life they’d be: Abba, ACDC, Styx, Queen, and idk Drake or something.

I once ate a few bites of undercooked chicken because I didn’t want to hurt the chef’s feelings. I’ve been working on being less passive ever since.

CHRISTINA-

I’m 27 and I can still do the splits.

If I could paint my house like a rainbow, I would, but my husband has some say in the matter.

A few months ago when Sarah was in town, we kidnapped our friend Kayla and took her to Houston in a day and back for the sole purpose of taking pictures. At the time, Sarah was the only one who had a blog so Kayla and I were just along for the ride and a chance to have someone photograph us. Cool!

We headed out early morning with our first stop being outside San Antonio for breakfast tacos and sweet tea from the one and only Bill Millers. That was my first mistake, tea! Houston is only a 3-hour trip and I had to stop at least 5 times to pee on the way there. It made it pretty obvious which one of us was the mom in the group. We had a sweet playlist set up, so it was a smooth ride… aside from all the pee stops.

My husband (being the champ he is) created a map for us to follow with all the pinpoints of the murals we wanted to check out. We weren’t able to catch them all, but we enjoyed ourselves and made it almost like a game. Arrive, change clothes, run over to the wall, take photos, change again, run back to the wall, take photos, run back to the car, hit up next destination. A few of the walls were across the street from each other so that made it easier.

When we arrived, we didn’t realize it would be in a very populated parking lot next to a gas station. It made outfit changes difficult since my car doesn’t have tinted windows. A few of the men that were at the gas station ran over and asked if they could have their pictures taken with Sarah and Kayla, Sarah convinced them that she was famous and they didn’t question her for a second.

Among my 5 siblings, I was dubbed The Artistic One way back in the day. Since The Bossy One and The Cool One were already taken, I was more than happy to accept my fate as the only one who can wield a paintbrush. These days, saying “I was an art major” is one of my favorite pretentious things to say to people who never even asked.

One thing this artsy fartsy gal has been in desperate need of is a space to create. Besides past bedrooms and art classrooms, I haven’t ever really had my own designated space to paint or draw. I’ve always gotten by portably, setting up shop as I go and cleaning up when finished. I have fallen asleep with paper, pens, and markers scattered among my bed many times.

Joel and I always knew we’d have some sort of office space in our home, but didn’t start putting it together until recently. In our three bedroom home, we have our bedroom, “the middle room” (where we have a very big/comfortable but hideous sectional, Joel’s stationary bike, a TV, and two stinky AF litter boxes for our children cats), and our guest room. Since we will probably have to take a wrecking ball to the side of the house to get the giant sectional out (seriously don’t know how we got it in there in the first place), the guest room is underway to double as an office.

Last weekend, I started getting the ideas for our office space/guest room out of my head and into, well, the room. I told Joel I wanted to paint some “out there” murals and he didn’t even bat an eye when I told him my idea to paint an eye print on one of the walls.

I still have a few touch ups, but it only took me a few hours and about $10 worth of paint to finish this. I am loving it. It’s creepy in the coolest way possible.

The inspiration for the wall came from my friend’s Instagram account who had photos of similar eye street art somewhere in Spain. I’m really excited to be working on this space in our home and I feel pretty hashtag blessed to have a husband who is so on board with my wacky decor ideas. Most importantly though, our guests aren’t going to be able to shake the feeling that they’re being watched when they stay with us. That’s so funny to me… Eye can’t stop laughing.

Two weeks ago, my mother-in-law/BFF, Sheila, and I flew to Nashville, TN to attend my beautiful sister-in-law’s baby shower. After flying out of a blizzard and straight into a thunderstorm (a plane ride deemed “too bumpy” for us to be served our complimentary Chardonnay) a relaxing 38 hours in a new city was just what the doctor ordered. Since all the rooms at Laura’s house were filled with friends (and one perfect baby boy), Sheila and I had the pleasure of staying with Jeremy and Elsie Larson. I’ve been crushin’ on The Larson House via Instagram for a while now, so it was truly an honor to get the invite to actually sleep there. My main goal for the weekend (besides feeling Gummergal‘s baby bump as much as possible) was to be a good guest and not embarrass myself. I can’t speak for E or J, but I think I did a pretty GD good job… For the most part, anyway.

Although we’ve been Internet Gal Pals for a while now, I couldn’t help but think it might be, idk, a little weird not only meeting Elsie in person, but staying in her house. Would it be like sleeping in a museum? Would I be allowed to touch stuff? Would her dogs like me? Would my habit of waking up early annoy the shit out of everyone like it usually does? I soon realized that this would be my first time being a real guest (staying with family or long-time friends doesn’t really count) in someone else’s home and I’d have to be on my best behavior.

Full disclaimer, it wasn’t even a little bit weird and the Larson Dogs, Dolly and Suki, totally love me. Elsie Larson, YOU REALLY ARE THE HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS.

The weekend went by so quickly, but I made the most of my short time in Nashville. Most importantly, I now have some good tips on how to be a good house guest…

I mean, how freaking cute are these Palm Springs themed shower treats?!

HOW TO BE A GOOD HOUSE GUEST:

Don’t quote obscure movies or TV shows, no matter how funny you think you’re being. Example: Elsie gave Sheila and I a tour of her home and when it was over, I turned to her and said “your house has a real ass on it” (a quote from an episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia). I got a polite smile from Elsie and an elbow to the ribs from Sheila.

Watch where you’re stepping, you clumsy fool. I kept walking into all the cactus and getting poked.

Do take advantage of all the cool mirrors. If they didn’t want you to take mirror selfies, they probably wouldn’t have bought them.

Make your bed! I never, ever make my bed at home, but it seems like a polite thing that people do, so I did it.

Make yourself at home! I definitely did wake up early to sit in the living room, kick my feet up, and read my book like I do at my own house every morning.

Don’t just slink out into the night when you leave like some kind of cheap hooker, say goodbye to your hosts.

Resist the temptation and don’t snoop (even if going through medicine cabinets is one of your favorite things to do).

This should go without saying, but don’t steal anything… we know that pink ukulele is calling your name, but buy your own on Amazon. GET OUT OF HERE, YOU CAN’T EVEN PLAY THE UKULELE.

A big thank you to Jeremy and Elsie for letting us stay with you and for not thinking it was weird that I took so many pictures inside your house…. Oh, you do think it was weird? We’ll work on it next time!

Fiesta originated 125 years ago when citizens of San Antonio wanted to celebrate the heroes of the Alamo with what they named The Battle of Flowers. It became a tradition and is now ingrained in San Antonio’s culture. And get this, it is the only parade in the country to be planned and directed completely by women! GO GIRLS! When I was a kid, I was in synchronized swimming and our team, The Cygnets (baby swans), got to participate in the parade and had our own float. Being super clumsy, I was never allowed to go on the float so I had to walk. We were told to just throw candy at kids whenever we walked by them, which could be a little dangerous. When you think about it, the parade is a ton of giant piñatas spewing candy all over the place. No baseball bats or blindfolds involved so all the hard work is done.

Being born and raised in San Antonio, I have a deep respect and appreciation for my city. When Fiesta comes around each year, I am again reminded of the history and culture of this beautiful city. N.I.O.S.A which stands for Night In Old San Antonio is where the party is at. Every year Sarah’s Dad, my uncle, volunteers and usually always asks for help. He works at the “Ranch Steak” tent. Ranch Steaks are a thin slice of chuck on a tortilla. Can’t get much simpler than that!

If a Ranch Steak doesn’t peak your interest, you could also try the infamous Chicken on a stick, or Steer on a stick, Elote (corn on the cob), or anything fried you can think of. Being a volunteer, you get all the sweet perks. Early entry, private bathrooms, air conditioned lobby, and free food. Whenever I had the chance to help out with my cousins, we would always be the ones taking tickets and banging the cow bell saying “RANCH STEAKS! GET YOUR RANCH STEAKS!” Then when 10pm came around (closing time) all the hungry drunks rush to your booth to get their greasy fill. Things can get a little crazy but overall, it’s a grand time.

source: Texas Public Radio

The whole month of April has Fiesta-related events going on, but the main events are from April 20th – April 30th. If you plan on making a trip, I would suggest coming for N.I.O.S.A., you will experience everything “Fiesta” in a span of 4-5 hours from good food, drinks, music, and partying. If you plan on bringing kids, I would recommend the Fiesta Carnival or one of the many parades. All information about the events and details can be found here.

If you’re ever planning to visit San Antonio, come in mid-April and party like a local!